Interaction of Microsomal Cytochrome P-450 s and N-Phenylcarbamates that Induce Flowering in Asparagus Seedlings

Abstract

n-Propyl N-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)carbamate, which induces flowering while it inhibits a step or steps in the phenylpropanoid metabolism in Asparagus officinalis L. seedlings, was found to retard the conversion of t-cinnamic acid to p-coumaric acid by high-pressure liquid chromatography of the metabolites in the shikimic acid pathway. The concentrations of the metabolites preceding t-cinnamic acid on the pathway in treated and untreated seedlings were the same, but those of p-coumaric acid and later metabolites were significantly lower in treated plants. The carbamate inhibited phenylpropanoid metabolism when used to treat stem segments that included a shoot apex primordium, where flowers are induced, and when added to a 100,000 × g microsomal fraction prepared from such segments. NADPH-cytochrome P-450 and NADH-cytochrome b5 reductases in the 100,000 × g fraction were not inhibited by the carbamate. The results showed that this compound has its site of action on the endoplasmic reticulum and that it inhibits cytochrome P-450s, including t-cinnamic acid 4-hydroxylase. We examined the flower-inducing activity of known cytochrome P-450 inhibitors, and found that piperonyl butoxide also causes flowering.